The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 51

the Observer sunday 28 may 1995 mmc mtmn. wmw mm Wamdlecoinig WamKzflefec WHATEVER fate awaits Bolton in tomorrow's First Division play-off final against Reading at Wembley, it seems certain that there is promotion ahead for at least one of their number manager Bruce Rioch. If not with the Wanderers, he will surely advance with one of the three Premiership clubs seeking a new manager. Rioch is reckoned to be on the short list of all of them Arsenal, Manchester City and Sheffield Wednesday after the extraordinary cup success he and his assistant, Colin Todd, have enjoyed these past three seasons at Burnden Park. But it is at Highbury where, privately, he would Jove to see his aspirations realised.

Rioch, who still has a home in Harpenden, Hertfordshire a short drive from Arsenal's training ground at London Gblney, has made no secret of his desire to move back south eventually. While the smart money may be on Frank Clark, of Nottingham Forest, Rioch is worth a flutter. After the dishonour heaped upon the club by George Graham's mismanagement, the role of manager at Highbury, and doubtless at many other clubs, is to be redefined. It is understood that Ken Friar, the secretary, is shortly to be appointed director of football, reducing the new man's responsibility to coaching, pure and simple. Since it has been alleged that Rioch' eventual downfall at Middlesbrough was due to an inabihty to deal with the prima donnas, having contractual matters taken out of his hands may be to his advantage.

Certainly he is at his happiest moulding a team, although it has to be said he seems to have done wonderfully on the contractual side of things at.Bolton to hang on to the likes of Stubbs, McAteer and McGinlay. But defeat tomorrow against the unfancied Royals, coming on the heels of last month's Coca-Cola Cup final loss to Liverpool, may signal more than just Rioch's departure. The pressure this time will be firmly on Bolton. The old adage about having little to lose was never more appropriate than in the case of their impoverished opponents, even if their chairman, John Madejski, is the joint eightieth richest man in Britain. The Berkshire club don't possess a reserve or youth team, or a training pitch and only just about a stadium.

But they are rich in spirit and go into this game following a run of five consecutive wins before easing down in the goalless second leg of their semi-final with Tranmere. Clive White Final push: Chesterf ield's Andrew Morris feels the full force of Chris Lucketti's Photograph by Richard Saker Mike Langley at Wembley Bury Chesterfield Robinson 2341 2 Bury markers all looking at each other while Robinson jumped and headed in. Chesterfield's mastery was underlined near the end when Kelly had to make successive saves from substitute Davies and Robinson. They have won nothing since the 1980s when they finished off the Anglo-Scottish Cup by beating Rangers in the final, whereupon the Scots refused to enter again. In 1985 John Duncan, their manager now for a second spell, took them to the Fourth Division title but since then it has been an uneventful time, except for a glorious night a few years ago in the FA Cup, when for a while they led Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield.

Duncan's resources are so strained now that he had to deploy his commercial manager, 43-year-old Jim Brown, on the bench as substitute goalkpeer, But it's a grand old club, the fourth oldest in the League after Notts County, Forest and Stoke. Maybe this result means a return of the blue skies. speak 'he does the business'. teen goals in 19 games and a play-off final since moving from Cardiff to Gigg Lane last January is the difference Stant has made. Not by being anyway fast or gifted on the ball but through persistent aggression, disdain of pain and ultra alertness to what's happening around him.

His distribution was usually inviting but hardly ever rewarded in return. Bury were not tight at the back, not bright in midfield, and their only outstanding chance was a free kick by Rigby which crashed against a goalpost in the So Chesterfield the Spireites, after the crooked steeple in the centre of their town are deservedly promoted after a fine all-round performance disfigured by none of the paranoia that so often accompanies the play-offs. I say that despite the five bookings for nothing very much by referee Paul Allcock while trying to exert some early.authority. One of those yellow cards was shown to Chesterfield's captain, Law, who has been likened by manager John Duncan to such dynamic skippers as Billy White and Dave Mackay. Law's offence was fouling Stant which showed that, like Wright and Mackay, he knows the Danger Man.

Law also brought about Chesterfield's two goals with long throws that the so-called Shakers, FA Cup winners in 1900 and 1903, couldn't have defended against worse if they had recalled those original back fours; The first throw sailed deep into the penalty area where it broke from defender as Hazel challenged. Lormor shot left-footed, so cleanly that not everyone saw Robinson insert his head into the action and flick the ball into the net. But there was no doubt about Robinson scoring the second goal, from another long throw by Law. The ball sailed on the swirling wind over the closest defenders and then began dropping among three more bemused BLACKBURN'S so-called SAS will open the new season in the Charity Shield "at Wembley and one can only wish them a cheerier day than the genuine item suffered there yesterday for Bury. Phil Stant Falklands veteran and explosives expert was bought out of the army for 600 nine years and some 160 goals ago after being discovered in khaki football at Hereford.

Where else? He is reputedly the highest-paid player in the Third Division at 50,000 a year plus an annual 25,000 for signing on. That's roughly twice the pay of most of his team-mates and opponents but Stant, at 32, earns it because in manager- Why they love to growl at the man who put bite into Terriers average for this season is a healthy 12,000. But Warnock is quick to acknowledge he had a little extra help. The star of the show in Huddersfield this season has not been the team or the manager but the magnificent Kirklecs stadium. Leeds Road had tradition and history, but was in quite a depressing state when Warnock arrived.

The Alfred McAlpine stadium, on the other hand, would put a spring in anyone's step. 'That was exactly what we were worried about at Warnock said. 'We thought it would encourage other teams to play above themselves. But we have almost built, It into a fortress, and we have been well supported. The ground is a free advert for the town, and we have absolutely nothing to fear if we make it into Division ble, so there is usually some unpleasant business to sort out before you get on the straight and Warnock may be on the verge pf a major career opening, however.

Regardless of whether the Terriers reach Division One via this afternoon's Wembley play-off against Bristol Rovers, an invitation to manage Derby County could soon be dropping through his door. The man who took Notts County up two divisions to the top flight on a shoestring, and followed thnt by steering Huddersfield from nowhere to the of promotion, would find it hard to resist a large, ambitious club with a wealthy chairman. Lionel Pickering is known to admire Warnock, whereas Terry Fisher, the Huddersfield chairman, has had the odd tiff with his man Paul Wilson finds Huddersfield's Neil Wamock still in Route One line of fire NEIL WARNOCK has rather more solid football credentials than Sir Harold Wilson, who used to lay claim to a scoring record in Huddersfield junior football. 'Eleven goals in one match. The only trouble was I was the goalkeeper who let them all But the present Town manager shares something of the late politician's reputation as a fixer, a handy mart to have around during 'a crisis.

Just as well, since crises also seem to follow hiirn around. Tve had to do dirty deeds wherever I've Wamock said, in Wilso-nian mode, 'Clubs only send for me when they are in trou ager. And despite Town's success this season, it is no secret that a section of the crowd want Wamock out. 'Whether you love tnc or hate me I would appeal for everyone to get behind us in the Warnock wrote in his programme riotes for the final home match of the season. Was this a coded farewell? 'No, not Warnock explained.

'I wrote that shortly after we had drawn at Cambridge to secure our play-off position. We went on to thank the crowd at the end, and I got a load of abuse from a small section of our own supporters. That got to me a bit. I think those supporters would have preferred it if we had lost, the result must have been a disappointment to them because it meant they had nothing to moan Warnock attributes his par tial unpopularity to some early dirty deeds, when he felt it necessary to release a couple of players who happened to figure prominently in the crowd's affections, but mostly he feels it is a matter of his reputation as an exponent of the direct approach. He trots out the defence that Notts County were only truly Route One for one season, and that when Huddersfield get over the halfway line they play as well as anyone, but this is as futile as arguing once the umpire has raised his finger.

As far as his detractors are concerned he is lbw Long Ball Warnock, 'I have been tarred with that particular brush and it looks like it will last he said. 'But I think a majority of our fans would ngree we have played some great stuff this season, I don't believe in pass ing for passing's sake, and it's fair to say I'm not the kind of manager who encourages his players to use 10 passes to move 20 yards up the pitch, but I don't think Huddersfield would strike any impartial observer as Impartial observers, of course, arc not what football is all about, though Bristol Rovers appear to have gathered a few fair-weather friends if they are really taking 30,000 fans to Wembley. The club's average home gates this season have only been in the area, and if Rovers achieve promotion it will be interesting to see how many of those spectators turn up on Saturdays in Division One. Huddersfield under Warnock have already made significant progress in this direction when the manager nrrived gates were under 5,000, yet die.